ACTING

TWO MAJOR APPROACHES TO ACTING

1. Emotional/subjective acting – the playing of roles in such a way that actors weep, suffer, or
struggle emotionally (become and experience the role)

2. Technical/objective acting – use of learned skills of acting, movement, speech, and

interpretation to create roles; no emotional response is allowed (actor does not actually live the
part)

 TYPES OF ROLES

 Leading Roles – the main characters in the play

 Protagonist – the main character in a play

 Antagonist – the person or force working against the protagonist

 Juvenile – a young romantic male lead between the ages of 16 and 30.

 Ingénue – a young romantic female lead between the ages of 16 and 30.

 Supporting Roles – those characters who contrast others (point out characteristics of
leading characters)

 KEYS TO CHARACTERIZATION

 Internalizing – the actor gets within the character and learns what the character is really
like down deep inside.

 Externalization – the process by which the true personality of a character is made visible
to an audience.

 Concentration – the ability to direct all your thoughts, energies and skills into what you
are doing at any single moment.

 Observation – observe people carefully, noting how they communicate fine shades of
emotion. Observation is the key to characterization

 Emotional Memory – the recalling of specific emotions that you have experienced or
observed.

 Projection – strong volume, but also “reaching out” to the last person in the last row of
a distant balcony.

 Motivation – the “why” of characterization.

 Playing the conditions – the conditions are the elements of time, place, weather,
objects and the state of the individual. They affect the manner in which characters
meet their objectives and deal with the obstacles.

 Playing the Objectives – includes all of the ways and means that a character uses to
reach a goal that he or she has established.

 Playing the Obstacles – the ways in which a character faces each crisis or obstacle.

 Energy – the fuel that drives acting, both individual performance and group
performance.

 Focus – directs the actor’s attention, action, emotion or line delivery to a definite target.

 Uniqueness – every actor who plays a character should be unique in that role, not
merely a close copy of someone else.